if at first you do not succeed

Alright, as a general rule, I do not delete comments here. There was one instance where I did, but that was solely because I was completely and utterly disgusted with the language and message of the poster, and I reserve that right in the future. That said, there is little more insulting, more frustrating, and more annoying to a potential reader than to have his or her comment summarily deleted, when there was no vulgar language in it, there was nothing offensive in it, and all it did was point out the copious and sizeable holes in your own post.
Unfortunately, Robyn Ringler does not give two flying monkey’s tails about any of that.
Who is this jackass of a woman? I honestly do not know. She claims to be “a nurse, attorney and freelance writer in Ballston Lake. I’m also a gun control activist who became deeply affected by America’s gun violence problem while caring for President Ronald Reagan after the assassination attempt,” but, hell, I could claim to be Mickey Mouse, and who is to say I am wrong (well, there was that one summer job…)? But the facts of the matter is that her amazing ability to twist and warp logic is only matched by her completely irrational hoplophobia, and she has absolutely no compunctions about deleting a comment on her weblog that might just point out how much of a fool she is.
Unfortunately for her, I have my own weblog, and she cannot delete posts from it.
What follows is the closest approximation to the comment I made to her post that I can remember… before she deleted it, that is. I guess the thought of having her follies exposed to the world to see was just too much for her little mind to bear.
Alright, Robyn, let us follow your “logic” to its natural conclusion – something I have complete and utter faith that you did not do. According to your warped and twisted grap of reality, I guess we should simply fire all the pilots in the country, since aircraft occasionally crash and kill people?
Or maybe I guess we should just burn down all of the roller coasters around the world, since they occasionally malfunction, and maim people?
Or how about we just lay off all of the construction workers at every skyscraper in every metropolis, simply because one of them could slip and fall and kill someone when they splat?
Or how about something closer to home, Robyn? Why do we not just go ahead and fire all the doctors and nurses in the country, because some of them occasionally make a horrible mistake, and accidentally kill people? Or, even better, why do we not just get rid of all the lawyers and attorneys, because some of them occasionally screw the hell up, and the wrong person gets released, the wrong person gets jailed, or – horribly enough – the wrong person gets sentenced to death?
These are absurd situations, right? Well, I hate to break it to you, Robyn dear, but these are exactly the same kinds of situations you are suggesting imposing on gun owners, simply because some of them happen to make mistakes occasionally. I am going to phrase this as simply and as straightforward-ly as I possibly can, just so I can ensure your understanding: Humans make mistakes. Or, if you want to phrase it a little more interestingly, entropy always wins. Hell, my family knew a man who accidentally boiled his child, because he neglected to check the temperature of the water in the bath he drew for the kid. A horrific accident, no doubt. But due to it, should we impose legislation that will prevent parents from bathing their own children until such time as the child is old enough to test the water for his or her self? Or, even better, should we simply ban all baths for children, like you are trying to do with firearm owners and their tools?
Firearm crimes are atrocious things, and firearm accidents are even worse. But every single tool ever made has its own chance of disaster… cars, nailguns, aircraft, compressed air, gas ovens…. everything – there is simply no way around it. Additionally, humans are stupid, forgetful, and prone to making all manner of idiotic and mindless mistakes. Once again, there is simply no way around that. Finally, you cannot legislate against stupidity. Never going to happen, never going to work, never going to be enforceable – being a lawyer, you bloody well should know that. Of course, also being a lawyer, you should know that the actions of a few, negligent people cannot, and should not be used to extrapolate the actions of a group as a whole – it is inaccurate, it is impolite, and it is just downright wrong.
What this problem does not need, above all things, is more legislation. There are so many anti-gun-crime laws on the books now, how about enforcing those instead of just adding more laws to make the lives of more legal gun owners that much more miserable? Of course, I have absolutely no doubt that your end goal is nothing short of the abolishment of legal gun ownership in America as a whole, so I guess any manner of legislation is ok with you. (However, as an aside, need I remind you just how successful the last Abolishion was in the US? Gun criminals are criminals because they do not obey the laws – what is one more law to disobey to them?) Just to be nice, though, I am going to assume that you realize the existance of the Second Amendment, and how it allows for the legal, individual ownership of firearms. As such, how about we stop trying to persecute those people who do follow the laws, and just occasionally have mistakes, and actually follow through with completely demolishing those who do not: Enforce the laws on the books. Make the punishments for gun-related and gun-assisted crims absolutely epic. And actually do your damned job as a lawyer and make sure those scumbags who use firearms to kill/hurt/rob/rape/etc. other people do not get free. How hard is that to do?
As for the situation of the accidents, the best (and only logical) course of action is more education, for the firearm owner, for children, for everyone involved. Owners should be better educated on how to propertly store, safe, and secure their weapons, in addition to the four basic rules of firearm safety – at the very least (I am sure other people can come up with other useful tidbits). Children should be be tought that when they find an unsecured firearm to not touch it, get out of the area, and find an adult immediately. And society as a whole should be tought to deglamourize firearms, that firearms are nothing more than tools (just like the hammer you probably have in your kitchen drawer), and that not every firearm owner is a complete and utter nutcase.
No matter the training, no matter the safety procedures, no matter anything, accidents will happen, and you had best come to terms with that. They can be mitigated, they can be reduced, they can be ameliorated, but, tragically enough, they will happen. Hell, I still manage to slam the unholy hell out of my thumb with a hammer every once in a while. The logical conclusion would be to learn from them, apply those learnings to knowledge, adapt to that knowledge, and keep moving. You, Robyn, on the other hand, have taken the purebred hoplophobic coward approach of sticking your fingers in your ears, your head in the sand, and your ass in the air. Unfortunately for you, and thankfully for the rest of us, reality is not going to simply bend to your will, and firearms are not just going to magically vanish into thin air.
The rest of us? We will be ensuring our firearms are safely stored and handled, our children (when I have them) stay away from them, and teaching those habits to everyone and anyone who is interested. And, furthermore, we will be defending our rights to self-defense and safe firearm ownership (and to behave like a damned fool when we so desire) from nanny-state-supporting, meddling, self-centered, self-righteous, self-absorbed, hypocritical, mentally-deficient, little twits like you.
…
Ok, so that was a little more hostile than my original comment. However, the gloves came off when Robyn decided to act like a childish little ostrich and delete opposing views simply because they tear her pathetic argument to shreds. Life’s a bitch.
(Robyn’s flailings first came to my attention by way of Says Uncle.)